Takeaways from Week 15 as told by the tweets of the Fantasy Stronghold.
It was a weird week when it came to the some of the players who scored touchdowns. That's one of the constant reminders that so much of this game is purely an educated guess. At least in the case of LeSean McCoy, he was able to find his way into the end zone a couple of times to cap a huge day while both DeMarco Murray and Frank Gore totaled well over 100 scrimmage yards. That doesn't completely make up for a lack of touchdowns, but it sort of eases the pain. While you're rocking back in forth in a dark corner tilting over the fractions of points that potentially separate you from a fantasy championship berth, just repeat to yourself "touchdowns are fickle beasts." You won't feel better, but the constant chanting will prevent you from completely losing your mind.
Sometimes a player's bad game isn't a result of a player having a bad game. Such was the case with Aaron Rodgers on Sunday. The Packers quarterback made a number of good throws and still was able to make plays despite playing on a bad calf muscle in frigid temperatures. It's just that he didn't always get help from his pass-catchers. Too bad you can't go to your fantasy opponent and turn those what-ifs into points. Life sorta sucks like that sometimes.
I look forward to my mentions being a wasteland for Twitter know-it-alls dancing to a song of schadenfreude. I don't care. I said what I said and I stand by it. Anywho...
Montgomery becomes an interesting case. He's certainly worth a spot as a flex option next week against a Vikings defense that suddenly looks very vulnerable -- something that would have still been in play had he been listed at receiver. But going forward, what does this mean for the Packers running back situation? Does Green Bay try to add another player at the position or does Montgomery get a shot to be the team's lead back? He will be an interesting player to break down on film in the offseason to get a glimpse at what his future might hold.
Nearly every fantasy analyst under the sun, moon and stars strongly advised against Adrian Peterson this week. The fear was that an aging running back coming off a long injury layoff and playing behind a bad offensive line was more of a risk than one should take in a critical week. Yet what few of us imagined is that Peterson would be rendered insignificant by the Vikings falling behind big time early in the game. After all, for all of Minnesota's offensive faults, the defense was still solid. At least that's what we thought. Wrong. Yet, all of those previous fears remain in play next week against the Packers. I would still strongly advise against plugging AD into your lineup.
For nearly everyone, this was a prime case of "too little, too late." But it did reinforce the prevailing idea that Brock Osweiler was the pimary reason for DeAndre Hopkins' struggles this season. The next test will be in Week 16 when Tom Savage is presumably starting and a defense (in this case, the Bengals) has a full week to prepare for him. After all, there are reasons Savage was the backup in Houston ... and it was about more than just the 72 million dollars heading into Osweiler's pocket. If nothing else, there's a quarterback who seems to be able to throw catchable balls to his primary receiver.
I don't really have any hard-hitting analysis here. It's just that I watch Jennings carry the football and am overcome with an extreme case of ennui. Then I think back to all of the times that I wrote or said that Jennings should be in people's lineups ... because volume. On second thought, that wasn't good on my part. Bad fantasy analyst! Bad!
Wait ... what?"
- Tyreek Hill had one touch all game. It was a 68-yard touchdown.
- DeAndre Hopkins had 87 receiving yards -- his second-highest total of the season.
- Zach Zenner: 4 receptions, 52 yards; Marvin Jones: 3 receptions, 44 yards
- Entering Sunday Night Football, Devonta Freeman was the top-scoring fantasy running back. If it holds, it will be the third straight weeks the 49ers have allowed a top-two fantasy RB and the sixth time all season.
- No Patriots running back played more than 28 offensive snaps.
And one for the road...
Marcas Grant is a fantasy editor for NFL.com. His snapchat (marcasg9) is a mixture of fantasy football and shenanigans. His neck is stiff and sore and he can't look to the left without turning his whole body like Batman. He's starting to think that sleeping on airplanes without a neck pillow just isn't the move. If you read all of that, congrats. Follow him on Twitter too.
